Nationwide Building Society posted interim results showing a small increase in profit, helped by growing market share in savings and mortgages, and the first full reporting period to include its Virgin Money acquisition.
The mutual reported an underlying profit before tax of £977 million, up 1.9% from a year earlier, as total income jumped 46% to £3.1 billion thanks to the addition of Virgin Money after the acquisition was completed last October.
Statutory profit before tax – which includes one-off costs and a £0.4 billion 'Fairer Share' payment made to members – fell to £486 million from £568 million.
Retail deposit balances rose by £5.3 billion to £266 billion, but net mortgage lending fell to £4.7 billion from £6.3 billion the year before but still enough to increase market share to 16.3% from 16.2%.
The building society also became the first provider to reach one million current account switchers since the industry-wide scheme launched in 2013, attracting more than three times the number of switchers than its nearest competitor.
Chief executive Dame Debbie Crosbie hailed the mutual's for being "number one" for growth in mortgages and retail deposits, as well as customer satisfaction, which she said was driving the account switching.
"All of this, combined with the benefits of our acquisition of Virgin Money, has led to an increase in underlying profit before tax, while delivering £1.2 billion of value to our members."
The balance sheet remained robust, with a CET1 capital ratio of 18.4% and a leverage ratio of 5.2%.
Integration of Virgin Money is said to be ahead of plan. Nationwide has already agreed the sale of Virgin Money’s investment and pensions arm and is preparing to transfer the assets and customers of Clydesdale Bank, Virgin’s main banking subsidiary, into Nationwide in April 2026.